Can A Feral Cat Become A House Cat?

Comments · 535

• MA

  @marymeyer6896 · 5 years ago

  We had a very large orange cat around our farm. Never could get close to him. One night he fought another male. Screaming and rolling down driveway. The next am he was in the barn but really cut up. Long story short food and water and a bit of time passes. He is no longer running from us but he is missing an eye. Had him nurtured and he stayed with me till he passes from a tumor he had behind his eye. I was super sick for a couple of months and he slept on my head the whole time. Never left my bed. The most awesome cat in the world. He was always known as Orange Cat.

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• JE

  @jerimcgee · 5 years ago

  A neighbor boy pulled a feral Siamese kitten out from under my house.  The kitten bite the crap out of him.  I kept it in a hamster cage for about a week.  I put on heavy gloves to pet it every few hours. One day as I was petting it it turned around and looked me in the eyes like he suddenly recognized me.  He raised up to pet my chin and started purring.  From then on he loved me till the day he died.  His name was Sting.

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• JU

  @judyfabion8849 · 5 years ago

  The love of my life is a feral who adopted me. He was so feral he had to learn to meow from my other rescues. He is the best companion I could ever have. 💘

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• TR

  @trevorpsy · 5 years ago (edited)

  I have domesticated 4 or 5 feral cats over the last 15 years. &nbsp;<br><br>Several points: &nbsp;I found that about 70 percent of feral cats will domesticate, although it can take several years in some cases and as short as a few months in other cases. &nbsp;Male ferals may be easier to become domesticated. &nbsp;<br><br>They domesticate themselves on their schedule. &nbsp;All you can do is be loving and patient. &nbsp;Your attitude should be that they&apos;re welcome in your house even if they never domesticate themselves.<br><br>The feral that never becomes domesticated will still develop an affection for you. &nbsp;They will learn their names and respond to you with a meow when call them. &nbsp;It&apos;s not so much that their &quot;wild&quot;; they&apos;re just afraid. &nbsp;Some ferals just can&apos;t adjust to be touched. &nbsp;But they eventually they will welcome your presence.<br><br>Ferals don&apos;t cause trouble with your other cats. &nbsp;They co-exist just like domesticated cats.<br><br>Also, ferals use the cat box by instinct. &nbsp;I&apos;ve never had a problem in this regard. &nbsp;It&apos;s helpful when domesticated cats have used the box.<br><br>Perhaps the most important factor in domesticating a feral is having it live among several domesticated cats. &nbsp;Watching you interact with domesticated cats may indicate that you can be trusted. &nbsp;It also gives the feral a chance to trust other cats in peaceful, secure circumstances. &nbsp;You are a part of those circumstances, which may help them to trust you.<br><br>Feeding time is a good opportunity to communicate with a feral. &nbsp;Fairly quickly, it will come out to eat with its domesticated brothers and sisters. &nbsp;Keep praising it when it&apos;s eating. &nbsp;Keep the eating experience as unchanging as possible: same time of day, same method for disbursing food, etc.<br><br>In the beginning, your feral is going to spend a lot of time under the bed or hiding elsewhere; coming out at night to play with their domesticated cousins or to explore. &nbsp;Eventually they will poke their heads out during the day. &nbsp;Whenever you see them, talk to them. &nbsp;Talk to them even when you&apos;re petting another cat. &nbsp;Talk, talk, talk.<br><br>By the way, we don&apos;t domesticate feral cats; they domesticate themselves by coming to trust you. &nbsp;<br><br>There&apos;s a another factor to consider: &nbsp;Some ferals have led relatively peaceful lives. &nbsp;Other ferals have been traumatized or have come close to starving. &nbsp;The former are better prepared to develop trust. &nbsp;Young adult ferals have had fewer opportunities to be traumatized. &nbsp;<br><br>The video mentions eventually picking up a feral. &nbsp;This may be too much to expect, but you can certainly get to the point where you can pet them and have them sleep at the foot of your bed while you&apos;re asleep. &nbsp;I recall one feral who became a lap cat. &nbsp;Don&apos;t expect this.<br><br><br>Having a feral in your house is NOT a &quot;nightmare situation.&quot; &nbsp;They hide at first and when they do come out they&apos;re extremely shy. &nbsp;Just don&apos;t push your luck. &nbsp;They&apos;re scared. &nbsp;<br><br>They will always be wary and spook easily, but they make devoted pets.

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• MA

  @maryhirsch8044 · 4 years ago

  I recently took in an old semi-feral Tom cat who was badly injured. I say semi-feral because I found out that someone had fed him but didn&apos;t have any physical contact. He was a mess! His whole tail was bloody and parts of it were falling off! I believe a car ran over his tail. I cried every time I fed him because he wouldn&apos;t let me touch him to get him help. Over time, he got friendlier and friendlier and let me pet him so I kept doing that for a while until he got used to that. Then one day I slowly picked him up while he was eating and got him in a cat cage. I took him to the Humane Society and they did everything to fix him up and I mean everything. He got neutered, dewormed, antibiotics, they killed the zillion lice and fleas he had, shaved him, Rabie shot, 2 baths, the works! He had been itching so bad that it looked like he was having a seizure. They had him for four days and they charged me NOTHING but I donated a couple hundred. He is now in a large cat cage on my back porch recovering. I am still working on training him to the litter box. If I succeed at that, I will attempt to bring him inside. I give him lots of loving during the day and he purrs and pushes his head into my hand now. Lots of comforting and gentle talk and massaging as he went through a lot of stress at the Humane Society but for his own good. His tail is healing up nicely and no more bleeding or itching. I sure do love this &quot;Pretty Boy&quot; and I am so grateful to the Humane Society for saving him. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I don&apos;t have to cry over him anymore. All it takes is a lot of patience and time. It can be done!

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• MA

  @mamacat2049 · 5 years ago

  Mooshie took 3 years to tame. He had my back bedroom. He his in corners. I filled the corners with furniture dressers etc. I would go in and sit and just talk to him. After a while he started coming out. The day he let me scratch his chin with 1 finger while I was offering a dish of canned food was a breakthrough. He is still a little skittish. Just recently he started begging for attention. He also likes to plop on me in the middle of the night. Love cures all. He also purrs which he didn&apos;t do in the beginning. He loves my other cats and plays like a little kid.

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• EL

  @elizabethmanning9936 · 2 years ago

  A feral cat showed up at our house. She was pregnant. We fed her daily on the porch. She had her litter of 4.<br>They too shared her food when they were weaned. I would talk to them when I set food down, never touching or getting too close. One day the Orange cat of the litter showed up at the kitchen window &amp; meowed at me. So I started feeding him outside the window always telling him &quot;Its okay&quot; repeatedly. Even petting him once before. I went inside wearing long gloves. Sure enough he came to the window every day &amp; let me pet him once before I went inside. It started getting cold, so I put his food just inside the enclosed porch &amp; told him &quot;Its okay.&quot; &nbsp;When it was too cold on the porch, I moved the food just inside the front door all the while telling him it was okay. He was petrified of every little noise. I left the door ajar when I set down food &amp; had put a litter box on the porch the first time he came in to eat. Always left the porch door ajar so he could roam outside. When the good weather came I sat outside &amp; would call &quot;Kitty, kitty&quot; &amp; eventually he&apos;d show up. I told him over &amp; over &quot;Its okay&quot; always in a soothing tone as I petted him once or twice. Every time I petted him from the very first time on he would purr. Purr, purr, purr.. He eventually stayed in the house permanently. (Our other cat considered him an intruder.) Still skittish, he finally settled in and after 2 yrs of giving him lots of loving always telling him in a soft tone &quot;Its okay&quot;. he is a lap cat. It took a lot of patience, but it was worth it. (His mother &amp; 3 siblings had been captured &amp; adopted when he showed up at the kitchen window.)<br>So yes, a feral kitten CAN be socialized. 👍👍

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• TA

  @tanjarepside9999 · 3 years ago (edited)

  I adopted my feral cat at age 14. And I was patient. Now is 16. And after 8 months every day sleeping with me, huging me.

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• TR

  @trevorpsy · 4 years ago

  I have something else to add. &nbsp;In my backyard for the past several months are two male cats. &nbsp;One is a stray and other is (was) definitely feral. &nbsp;Both are adults. &nbsp;When I put out their food, the stray is starving for affection, so I pause for a minute to pet and talk to him. &nbsp;(If I didn&apos;t have so many cats already, I would take him in.) &nbsp;Until very recently, the other cat kept his distance and backed away whenever I got too close. &nbsp;The more I fed them the closer the feral would come, until about month ago when he got close enough to smell my hand. &nbsp;I offered my hand for a couple weeks, and then I touched the top of his head. &nbsp;He instantly pulled back and took a swipe at me. &nbsp;I went back offering my hand. &nbsp;Then he got close once again and I touched his head. &nbsp;He was shocked but quickly realized that what I was doing was pleasurable. &nbsp;Long story short, he&apos;s now spoiled, wanting me to drop everything and pet him. &nbsp;(Now the the cats are jealous of each other, and I have to be careful about giving them equal amounts of attention.)<br><br>My point is that all cats, including ferals, are different. &nbsp;Some ferals can be domesticated. &nbsp;Some after a year or two, and some after a month or two. &nbsp;As I said before, male ferals seem to be less of a challenge.<br><br>One other point, I believe that I was able to domesticate my backyard feral so quickly is because the stray cat modeled domesticated behavior and wasn&apos;t harmed in doing so.

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• KA

  @kathistriggow2349 · 4 years ago

  I guess I am very fortunate. My feral cat who has a clipped ear ran into my house on November 19, 2018. We had talked a number of times. It was awful weather that day. I am so happy that she trusted me! She has been the best little kitty ever! A huge part of my life❤! Very smart little girl! From what I can gather, she&apos;s about 7. It is possible, and I&apos;m so grateful for her blessing my life❤❤

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• JO

  @jonogren5567 · 5 years ago

  Bribe a new friend with cat food today. 🤣🤣

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• LO

  @loneyhearts · 5 years ago

  I have 2 kittens born of a ferral cat, they were 4 weeks old when I got them. &nbsp;I fed them bathed them and litter trained them. &nbsp;They are my children. &nbsp; I had them fixed when it was appropriate, and they have been in my custody since May 2012. &nbsp;The story of their being raised by me is one I cherish, &nbsp;I am so glad I have them.

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